Caz girls track wins twice in three days

An odd quirk in the Cazenovia girls indoor track and field team’s schedule left it facing two meets in a 48-hour span during the opening days of 2013, but even that wasn’t an obstacle as the Lakers’ firm grip on Mohawk Valley ITA meets remains.

The Lakers certainly handled the first part well, dominating again at last Wednesday’s John DiMao Memorial Invitational at Colgate University’s Sanford Field House. With 150 points, Cazenovia more than doubled the total of runner-up Rome Free Academy, who had 70.5 points.

Returning to the individual-event format, Ashley Winn and Clare Costello piled up points in sprints. Winn (7.47 seconds) and Costello (7.82 seconds) went 1-2 in the 55-meter dash, and did so again in the 300-meter dash as Winn prevailed in 44.53 seconds, edging out Costello’s 44.76 as Jesse Matt (47.62) was fifth.

Cazenovia also won the 4×200 relay, where Winn, Costello, Matt and Hannah Rousell posted 1:52.89 to hold off New Hartford (1:54.51) and the field. Also, Ashley Kent earned a victory in the 55-meter hurdles, edging RFA’s Dana Husband, 9.76 seconds to 9.78.

Jeannette Cudney beat the field in the 1,000-meter run in 3:18.54 as Margaret Wolsey (3:23.35) took third. Not content with that, Cudney also prevailed in the 1,500-meter run in 5:07.55, with Meredith Shephard fourth in 5:38.04.

For her part, Wolsey teamed with Colleen Stalder, Grace Milmoe and Maureen Milmoe to rout the field in the 4×800 relay in 10:51.98, the only sub-11-minute time. Sarah Willard, Samantha Gates, Evelyn Wells and Keeley Race were second in the 4×400 relay (4:37.52) as Gates, on her own, took third in the 600-meter run in 1:50.10, where Willard was sixth.

Liz Pittman earned 20 points in field events. She cleared 7 feet 9 inches in the pole vault for second place and also got second place (31’6”) in the triple jump, ahead of Kent (30’10 ½”) in fourth. Pittman added a third-place long jump of 14’10”. Hannah Dain and Sarah Haley took fourth and fifth, respectively, in the shot put as Haley added a sixth in the weight throw.

The Bears’ Lucas Rogers earned most of those points, winning the 1,000 in 2:53.81 to the 2:54.57 posted by Ilion’s Brandon Rawson. Rogers also rose to second place in the 600 in 1:30.39, where the Lakers’ Will Fellows (1:34.58) was fifth. In the 4×800, Rogers and the Bears finished fourth in 9:44.61, while Marty Boyd took fifth in the high jump.

Cameron Braathen recorded the Lakers’ best finish, a second in the shot put with a toss of 43’6”., while Casey Fenton was fifth in the triple jump, half an inch ahead of teammate Alex Devine in sixth. The Lakers also finished fifth (1:45.50) in the 4×200.

Sean Satchwell, seventh in the mile, ran a leg as Cazenovia also took fifth in the 4×400 in 4:04.2, as Ryker Smith cleared 5’2” in the high jump, like Boyd, but had to settle for a sixth-place tie.

Just two days later, the Mohawk Valley Indoor Track Association sides met again at Colgate for another set of Partner Relays. Again, Cazenovia’s girls were victorious, accumulating 127 points as Clinton (87 points) was second.

By herself, Cudney won the 1,500 (5:06.37) and 3,000 (11:15.46) individual races, and paired with Shephard (in the 1,500) and Wolsey (in the 3,000) for team victories in both events, too. Grace and Maureen Milmoe beat the field in the 1,000 with a combined 7:10.42.

Winn (43.61 seconds) and Costello (44.51 seconds) again went 1-2 in the 300 sprint, but they teamed to win the 55 sprint, too, as Winn prevailed in the individual race, improving to 7.43 seconds. They also had a 200-meter sprint, where Winn (26.86 seconds) and Costello (27.82 seconds) earned yet another 1-2 sweep.

Gates and Willard paired up for first place in the 600 with a combined 3:42.71. Willard went to the 500-meter event and won in 1:33.05, with Kelsey Henderson (1:35.35) and Keeley Race (1:36.08) completing a 1-2-3 sweep.

Pittman and Kent won the triple jump, combining to go 63’1 ½”, while Pittman teamed with Henderson for second in the long jump (28’3”) and helped Ally Muller get to third place in the pole vault.

Kent won the 55 hurdles in a time of 9.60 seconds as she and Adrien Owens finished third overall. Dain and Haley were third in the shot put and fourth in the weight throw as Tori Fischer and Brittney Devendorf got third place in the high jump.

As this went on, Cazenovia’s boys improved to 49 points and fifth place in a 10-team MVITA field. Tyler Dunkle and Brody Kellish were second in the 300 sprint in 1:21.23, with Conner Polsin and Ryan O’Herrien claiming the runner-up spot in the 55 sprint (14.43 seconds). Polsin and Alex Devine got third in the 200 and the Lakers added a fifth in the 1,000 and sixth in the mile.

In field events, Ryker Smith and Tyler Dunkle got second in the high jump, clearing 10’8” between them. Braathen, teaming with Reed Lucas (shot put) and Ryan O’Herien (weight throw), was fourth in both events, with the Lakers also fourth in the long jump and triple jump.